Editing Cherokee language (section)

=== Shape classifiers in verbs ===
Some Cherokee verbs require special classifiers which denote a physical property of the direct object. Only around 20 common verbs require one of these classifiers (such as the equivalent of 'hold'). The classifiers can be grouped into five categories:

* Live
* Flexible (most common)
* Long (narrow, not flexible)
* Indefinite (solid, heavy relative to size), also used as default category{{sfn|King|1975}}
* Liquid (or container of)

Example:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Conjugation of 'hand him{{nbsp}}...'
|-
! Classifier type
! Cherokee
! Transliteration
! Translation
|-
| Live
| {{lang|chr|ᎯᎧᏏ}}
| {{lang|chr-Latn|hikasi}}
| Hand him (something living)
|-
| Flexible
| {{lang|chr|ᎯᏅᏏ}}
| {{lang|chr-Latn|hinvsi}}
| Hand him (something like clothes, rope)
|-
| Long, indefinite
| {{lang|chr|ᎯᏗᏏ}}
| {{lang|chr-Latn|hidisi}}
| Hand him (something like a broom, pencil)
|-
| Indefinite
| {{lang|chr|ᎯᎥᏏ}}
| {{lang|chr-Latn|hivsi}}
| Hand him (something like food, book)
|-
| Liquid
| {{lang|chr|ᎯᏁᎥᏏ}}
| {{lang|chr-Latn|hinevsi}}
| Hand him (something like water)
|}

There have been reports that the youngest speakers of Cherokee are using only the indefinite forms, suggesting a decline in usage or full acquisition of the system of shape classification.{{sfn|Scancarelli|2005}} Cherokee is the only Iroquoian language with this type of classificatory verb system, leading linguists to reanalyze it as a potential remnant of a noun incorporation system in Proto-Iroquoian.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Evolution of Noun Incorporation|last=Mithun|first=Marianne|date=1984|journal=Language|doi=10.1353/lan.1984.0038|issue=4|pages=847–894 |volume=60|s2cid=143600392}}</ref> However, given the non-productive nature of noun incorporation in Cherokee, other linguists have suggested that classificatory verbs are the product of historical contact between Cherokee and non-Iroquoian languages, and instead that the noun incorporation system in Northern Iroquoian languages developed later.<ref>Chafe, Wallace. 2000. "Florescence as a force in grammaticalization." ''Reconstructing Grammar'', ed. Spike Gildea, pp. 39–64. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.</ref>